Thanks... Popping into my amazon cart.... :)

No way. Maybe if they were experienced flyers. But newbies in that situation? Nope. Of course, I am a pessimist.

Selling cookies is the reason I quit girls scouts when I was a kid. I am not shy but I am introverted and door to door sales are my worst nightmare.

In regards to layovers... I agree. Go for a longer one. You need it to get out, stretch your legs, move around, clear your head. When we came home last summer it was 7 hours from here to Tokyo then 13 hours from Tokyo to Detroit with only a 1 hour layover in between. It was BRUTAL. On the way back we had a 6 hour layover in Hong Kong and it was lovely! We ate at a restaurant, shopped, let the kids run around at the play area, etc. You have to go through immigration in Tokyo too but they are pretty fast. Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific are FANTASTIC airlines!

I am so bad with names. There are people I KNOW are gone and I FEEL the loss but I can't quite remember their screen name. But then if they come back I immediately remember. Weird. I know. Then you all mention names and I'm like "oh yeah, Her! And her! And her!" I KNOW there are people who have left and I can't quite put my finger on it. But things do feel different without them.

I went to mine and loved it!!! Of course, I liked high school so it was great to see my former teammates, friends, even ex-boyfriends! It was a blast. This year will be 25 for me but I don't know if we are having one. If they do I hope it is in the summer. I would totally fly back for that.

I don't think of it as "rude" to ask but I still wouldn't. They know you have another child. They didn't invite her. They must have their reasons. I would respect that and take the younger one to do something else.

I am so very sorry.

I know what you mean. I was raised Pentecostal. My grandfather was a Pentecostal pastor. Two of my uncles are currently Pentecostal pastors.... You get the picture. ;)

Now that I have more time to respond... Our trip back to the states last summer looked like this: We had one piece of checked luggage per person that we checked at the curb. We had one backpack per person that we carried on. Each of us wore our own back pack except dd and we hung hers on the stroller. We took a compact stroller as it is much easier to push her than try to carry her or hope her little legs can manage the long airport walks. I pushed the stroller and dh carried the car seat. We went back and forth on the car seat since NO ONE uses a car seat here but we took it and it was the BEST decision ever. She slept so well and ate well in it and sat and watched movies in it, etc. In each backpack we had a change of clothes, toiletries, snacks for each person and an iPad (with headphones) loaded with movies, kindle books, Blues Clues, fun games, etc. It kept them busy the whole time. We charged them at each airport stop (make sure you have a universal adapter). Some of our airplanes even had a place to charge them right in the seat. Also the bulkhead seat idea does not work any more. As mentioned, they don't let your kids sleep or play on the floor any more and they are usually exit rows. Plus the loss of under seat storage would be a huge pain as we were using our backpacks a lot!

I LOVE refnet. I have a book club that meets at my home once a month. Here is our book list for this year (I am not necessarily recommending all of these since I haven't read them yet but it's our to-read list): Jan- The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God's Story http://www.amazon.com/The-God-Who-There-ebook/dp/B003RRWN6W/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355652961&sr=1-1&keywords=the+god+who+is+there Feb- Ordering Your Private World http://www.amazon.com/Ordering-Your-Private-World-ebook/dp/B000TRM9S0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355652992&sr=1-1&keywords=ordering+your+private+world March- A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World http://www.amazon.com/Praying-Life-Connecting-Distracting-ebook/dp/B005OKEOEO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653022&sr=1-1&keywords=a+praying+life April- God's Big Picture: Tracing the Storyline of the Bible http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Big-Picture-Storyline-ebook/dp/B008B9HPGY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653175&sr=1-1&keywords=god%27s+big+picture May- Why Revival Tarries http://www.amazon.com/Why-Revival-Tarries-ebook/dp/B001OW5Q8Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653206&sr=1-1&keywords=why+revival+tarries June-August- When I Don't Desire God http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/books/when-i-dont-desire-god Sept- How Should We Then Live? http://www.amazon.com/Should-LAbri-Anniversary-Edition-ebook/dp/B001INWDGM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653279&sr=1-1&keywords=how+should+we+then+live Oct- The Gospel's Power and Message http://www.amazon.com/The-Gospels-Power-Message-ebook/dp/B009R4ILNI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653311&sr=1-1&keywords=the+gospels+power+and+message Nov- God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity survived and flourished in communist China http://www.amazon.com/God-Is-Red-ebook/dp/B004T4OQ62/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653337&sr=1-1&keywords=god+is+red Dec (girl/guy month)- Faithful Women and their Extraordinary God http://www.amazon.com/Faithful-Women-Their-Extraordinary-ebook/dp/B0026LTPTS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653432&sr=1-1&keywords=noel+piper Puritan Portraits http://www.amazon.com/Puritan-Portraits-ebook/dp/B009SA2O16/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1355653490&sr=1-1&keywords=puritan+portraits

Our plane rides home take 30 hours or more. What saves us each time is Benadryl and iPads and snacks.

This explains my family as well except that we let them have it when we got out to eat. We do not have it in the house. We all drink water at home.

Thank you for mentioning this. Water is super cheap here and I think we waste too much of it because we know it is cheap. This is really convicting for me.

Update: I spoke with an elder from the church today and here is what I know: Service is Sunday at 9:30 No female pastors Expository preaching Not charismatic Reformed doctrine About 10 families or so (around 40-50 people) FIC (family integrated church) This man is actually the parent of two students at my school and he is going to meet us at the school on Sunday so we can follow him (driving directions here are pretty dicey!). I am cautiously optimistic. All those answers were just what we wanted to hear. This MIGHT be the one!

This week we had our annual staff retreat before starting second semester. The theme of this year's retreat was GRATITUDE. There was a lot said that really made me think such as: We tend to think of "gratitude" in terms of big moments in life. There are events in life that draw out our gratitude... Like when my dh recovered from the paralysis caused by breaking his neck in a motorcycle accident. I was SO grateful. But do we feel gratitude for all the small things in life? Song lyric: "It's not having what you want, it's wanting what you've got." Getting what you want is great but the thrill wears off and then you want more and more. Being grateful for what you have is key. Are you content with what you have? Sometimes gratitude is about what you DON'T have. Like I don't have a fatal illness or children dying from starvation or a constant fear I will be killed just because of where I live. Gratitude shifts your focus from what you are lacking to what you have. So we journaled for a bit and made a list of all the things we have in our lives that we love. I realized through making that list that I really, really LOVE my life. Yes, there are things I wish were different but they aren't. So instead of spending time and energy focused on that, I am making a concerted effort to focus on what I LOVE about my life, the big things and the small things. A big thing: I love that I had the opportunity to adopt...Twice. It has been the most amazing blessing in our lives. A small thing: I love my new red patent leather purse. It makes me feel a little giddy when I carry it! :) What do you LOVE about your life?

We don't own a dishwasher (almost no one does in this country) so everything is washed by hand. Mon through Fri our amah is here and a dirty dish barely touches the sink before it is washed, dried and put away. Really. She is FAST. Saturday and Sunday she is off and we wash our own dishes. So dirty dishes go in the sink during meal prep and eating but then we wash them right away. Too many bugs here to let dirty dishes sit. We also eat out a lot on the weekends and use paper plates so there isn't much dish washing to do.

hmmm... Probably Desiring God although the DeYoung book would be a very close second. Anything by Piper or DeYoung is fantastic.

Favorite parenting book: Family Driven Faith: Doing What it Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Bauchum Homeschooling: The Well-Trained Mind of course! Faith: Oh goodness. There are lots of them. Here are a few really great ones I have read recently... Desiring God by John Piper The Hole in our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung The Holiness of God by RC Sproul How Should We Then Live by Francis Shaeffer

Prayer request... After our discussion here, I was talking to another couple from work whom I know are also reformed. In fact, to my knowledge, there are 3 families at my school including ours that are reformed. Anyways, two things came out of the conversation: -Rumor has it a small reformed church has started up on the other side of the island, about 40 minutes from here. So we are going to call and talk to the pastor and then possibly go check it out together. -We also discussed the possibility of starting a home church with our three families. Please pray that one of these options works out. I feel very encouraged at the possibilities!!!

I have benefitted in that I will receive eternal life when what I really deserve is eternal punishment. Anything more than that is just gravy.

"Reformed" is a term that is used to describe, on a larger scale, those that hold to the doctrines of grace... otherwise known as Calvinism: http://www.gotquesti...s-of-grace.html Calvinism is primarily concerned with soteriology. "Reformed" on a more narrow scale refers to those who follow all or most of Reformed Theology: http://www.gotquesti...d-theology.html So you can have reformed baptists (which is what we are) who believe in the doctrines of grace but don't do infant baptism (we are also dispensational whereas strict reformed theology is covenantal). What those of the reformed persuasion have in common typically are salvation by grace alone, the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, and complete sovereignty of God. HTH!

This is EXACTLY how we feel and why we have been worshipping at home. I miss being part of a fellowship terribly (although we do get quite a bit working at a christian school). And then there are all of those who try to make us feel guilty for not "going to church". But i honestly don't want to spend Sunday afternoon undoing much of what my kids were taught on Sunday morning.

ONE CUP AT A TIME???? Sounds more like a torture device than a coffee maker. We make coffee by the pot here!!

Not shocked at all. I knew he was lying the whole time. We used to be heavily involved in the competitive weight training and bodybuilding industry and owned a sports nutrition store. Contrary to popular belief, it is nearly impossible to be a "Super Athlete" without some form of chemical enhancement. Every time he swore he didn't dope, dh and I would just laugh.